by Lois Lowry
Houghton Mifflin, 2000
215 pages
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
About the Book
Lois Lowry once again creates a mysterious but plausible future world. It is a society ruled by savagery and deceit and that shuns and discards the weak. Left orphaned and physically flawed, young Kira faces a frightening, uncertain future.
Blessed with an almost magical talent that keeps her alive, she struggles with ever broadening responsibilities in her quest for truth, discovering things that will change her life forever. As she did in The Giver, Lowry challenges readers to imagine what our world could become, how people could evolve, and what could be considered valuable.
My Thoughts
Although this book is not a direct sequel to The Giver, it is loosely connected by showing another possible society that could arise out of the same struggles in that book. There are a number of similarities between the two, despite the differences in their level of technology and their family structures.
I found the characters and the society described fascinating, although I was not as spellbound as with the earlier novel. Whether that is attributable to the writing itself or to the fact that I was already prepared for an alternative perspective, I can’t really say. I would definitely recommend the book, especially for the middle school/high school level.
Note: This is Book #80 of my 2011 Reads (master list here).
I'm a mom with Asperger's raising an amazing son with autism, which means I'm basically the case manager/advocate/cheerleader/chauffeur. The rest of the time, you can usually find me with my nose in a book!
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I enjoyed this one, and love Lois Lowry, but I agree it’s not quite as good as The Giver. Are you planning to read the third one? I liked it too.